Beating the heat is a challenge

A sea of maroon and white practice jerseys surrounded Riverview High School head coach Todd Johnson Wednesday morning as he addressed his football team after another training session.

A Bayshore High football player takes a drink to keep hydrated during practice at Bayshore High on Wednesday.STAFF PHOTO / DENNIS MAFFEZZOLI

Players’ faces were soaked in sweat and they looked as though they had just taken showers. But it was just a sign that the humidity and 95-degree heat had taken its toll following a two-hour practice.

Water and less outerwear was certainly welcomed here, and it has to be at every prep football practice since the Florida High School Athletics Association adopted changes to its Heat Acclimatization Policy earlier this year in order to protect squads from dehydration and fatal potential injury.

Prep football practice started Monday and teams were only allowed to practice in helmets and shorts until day three. Shoulder pads were allowed Wednesday and full gear will be allowed on day six, the same day body-to-body contact is allowed.

Riverview’s players were training in shoulder pads, helmets and gym shorts, or “shells,” Wednesday as they began the inaugural days of August camp, attire the players could agree was more comfortable than being fully uniformed — scratchy knee-high nylon pants and all.

For Johnson, the rule means five days of drills where tackling is prohibited — gasser sprints, route running, sled pushing and weightlifting.

“It’s all about getting acclimated again to being in a helmet and shoulder pads — we’re trying to keep the kids safe,” Johnson said as he watched his squad lift weights in the gym after retiring from outside drills.

“You just have to be careful with it because these kids want to start full-go once they put the equipment on.”

That could be said for senior Lex Sayre, a 17-year-old tight end who understands the significance of going a few additionally required days without donning the full uniform.

“Wearing shells gives us a good idea of what the heat is going to be like for our upper body, and pants are obviously going to be hotter than shorts,” Sayre said. “In my opinion, less pads are great and we can work harder for longer periods of time.”

At Lakewood Ranch High School, football coach Shawn Trent had mixed emotions about the new policy. He said it was more suitable for athletes not accustomed to the Florida heat, ones who had recently moved from cooler northern climates.

“I get what the FHSAA is trying to do by giving these kids more time to run around and get in shape in the heat,” Trent said after his team finished a three hour workout.

“The thing is, down here, the programs that are good are (already) working two hours and four days a-week all summer long before camp.”

But even for freshmen who have not yet had a taste of what prep football practices are like, the humidity could be difficult to adjust to, some of the upperclassmen noted.

“There’s a lot of freshmen out here experiencing football for the first time that aren’t used to running around with 20 pounds of gear on,” said senior offensive tackle Andrew Hoskinson before he joined teammates in a meeting room.

But with five days before full pads comes a shorter turnaround for game preparation, which is currently two weeks away for most teams.

Cardinal Mooney head coach Josh Smithers sees the FHSAA changes as nothing to be too alarmed with, though, since all high schools follow the same practice rules.

“The important thing is that you take every precaution necessary. . . . That’s all that parents want, and we want to make sure that every player’s safety is 100 percent accounted for,” he said. “Kids are bigger, faster and stronger and there seem to be more heat-related deaths now compared to when I was playing.”

According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, 35 high school football players died of Exertional HeatStroke between 1995 and 2010.

The same organization also said EHS results in thousands of emergency room visits and hospitalizations throughout the nation each year.

Those numbers prompted the FHSAA to change the time limit for practices during the first two weeks of training to no more than three hours per session.

There is also talk that the association will do away with two-a-day camps. Many high schools have already eliminated two-a-days.

“With the high humidity and heat, the boys can’t go from doing nothing to training during the summer,” said Cardinal Mooney athletics trainer Steven Favia, who also works at Coastal Orthopedics, a Bradenton-based physical therapy practice that deals with sports-related injuries. “I like to also preach the idea of hydration to students. That’s a key to combat the heat.”

Last modified: August 7, 2013
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